Stabilization of an enzyme cytochrome c in a metal-organic framework against denaturing organic solvents

Fanrui Sha; Yijing Chen; Riki J Drout; Karam B Idrees; Xuan Zhang; Omar K Farha

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2021.102641

Stabilization of an enzyme cytochrome c in a metal-organic framework against denaturing organic solvents

iScience. 2021 May 24;24(6):102641. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.102641. eCollection 2021 Jun 25.

Authors

Fanrui Sha¹, Yijing Chen¹, Riki J Drout¹, Karam B Idrees¹, Xuan Zhang¹, Omar K Farha^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208-3113, USA.
² International Institute for Nanotechnology (IIN), Northwestern University, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208-3113, USA.
³ Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA.

Abstract

Enzymes are promising catalysts with high selectivity and activity under mild reaction conditions. However, their practical application has largely been hindered by their high cost and poor stability. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) as host materials show potential in protecting proteins against denaturing conditions, but a systematic study investigating the stabilizing mechanism is still lacking. In this study, we stabilized enzyme cytochrome c (cyt c) by encapsulating it in a hierarchical mesoporous zirconium-based MOF, NU-1000 against denaturing organic solvents. Cyt c@NU-1000 showed a significantly enhanced activity compared to the native enzyme, and the composite retained this enhanced activity after treatment with five denaturing organic solvents. Moreover, the composite was recyclable without activity loss for at least three cycles. Our cyt c@NU-1000 model system demonstrates that enzyme@MOF composites prepared via post-synthetic encapsulation offer a promising route to overcome the challenges of enzyme stability and recyclability that impede the widespread adoption of biocatalysis.

Keywords: Biocatalysis; Chemistry; Engineering; Green chemistry; Materials chemistry.